New Zealand retains top spot for ease of doing business

New Zealand retains top spot for ease of doing business

For the second year in a row, New Zealand has claimed the top spot in the World Bank Doing Business 2018 report for ease of doing business, ahead of 190 other economies.

“This ranking recognises the effectiveness of New Zealand’s business regulators, including the speed and efficiency of the company registration process, meaning our regulatory environment is the most conducive to the operation of a local business,” says General Manager Business Integrity Services Ross van der Schyff.

“One of the measures that make up the overall ease of doing business ranking is time and cost of starting a business. New Zealand has been the top-ranked country in the world on this measure for the past 10 years.

“We are very proud of this achievement, but we’re also working to maintain the integrity of information held on our business registers and the transparency of our online systems.

“Being able to register or update company information efficiently on the new Companies Office website as well as easily access government tools and advice at business.govt.nz are areas Business Integrity Services makes a strong contribution towards.”

New Zealand was first announced number one in October 2016 after Singapore had retained the top spot for over a decade.

“We are very proud of New Zealand holding the top spot two years in a row, particularly as Business Integrity Services assists with building trust and confidence in the New Zealand economy on a daily basis,” says Mr van der Schyff.

“We are focused on continuing to support the development of New Zealand’s business landscape while sharing our knowledge and expertise with other countries.”

Rankings for the latest report were determined by sorting the aggregate scores across 11 topics, giving equal weight to each topic, with economies benchmarked to June 2017.